The present invention relates generally to combat type sports similar to Boxing and the like and more particularly to improvements in apparatus utilized in such sports.
In contests of these sports, it is an object of the participants in order to win as well as a preference of the viewers for reasons of excitement that knockdowns be scored. However, often it is an object and a necessity to hurt a participant even severely in order to knock the participant down, which can be hazardous to a participants health and even life threatening or fatal, because when a punch or blow connects with the chin of a boxer for example, the inertia of the blow will create a shock which may jolt the head of the boxer in a certain direction and although said shock is often absorbed in the muscles of the boxer from his or her neck down without even knocking the boxer down, it has too often and may continue to cause concusions and the like and burst blood vessels in the brains of boxers causing inevitable death.
Throughout the history of sports like boxing, devices have been made and utilized to increase the safety of participants in these sports, such as head gear, mouth pieces, padded gloves, tape for hands, safety cups, shin guards and foot pads, to help prevent damages and cuts and to absorb and decrease the shock of blows from punches and kicks, etc., however, there have been nearly 370 deaths resulting from Boxing and numerous serious injuries relating to brain damage, blindness, etc., as well as less severe injuries such as cuts, broken noses, jaws, ribs, and metacarpals. Recently, organizations and individuals have even endorsed pursuits to ban Boxing entirely. There also has been extensive controversy concerning the systems utilized for scoring points and the stopping of fights due to alleged damages to participants in these sports contests.
Primary objects of the present invention are; to provide additional sports, improve upon the safety of the participants in conventional combat type sports which is provided by the apparatus utilized in these sports, and to eliminate the controversies in such sports by providing apparatus to simplify the scoring systems by reducing or eliminating the chance of damages occuring to participants and stopping of the contests by reasons therefor, and also to increase the excitement of such sports by increasing the number of knockdowns in each contest due to the transference of shock caused by blows, through an upper body armor and helmet or the like, to a participants waist and legs, and overcoming the participants balance, whereby the scoring systems may be simplified on a point per knockdown basis or the like and although participants may be unable to rise and commence combat within ten seconds or so due to fatigue, they will not get hurt and the contests will not be stopped therefor, thereby eliminating extensive controversies relating thereto.